Friday, June 27, 2014

Nakedness is Not Shameful

I see the story of Adam and Eve, as presented in the temple endowment, as Lucifer positioning himself as the "God of this world" by inserting himself between Adam & Eve and God, "commanding them" and convincing them to hide from God. In other words, Lucifer pointed out their nakedness and then used that nakedness as a wedge to separate them from God. 

Having said that, I don't take it literally, so I don't believe things actually happened as I just described. I'm talking about the meaning taken from the story within the endowment - and I really like that meaning, since it includes shame and guilt over simple nakedness as being introduced by the "father of lies". The idea that nakedness is shameful in and of itself is a horrible lie, in my opinion - and I appreciate a story that attributes that shame to "the devil".

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"NAKED MAN: Naked, dressed. I don't see any difference.

JERRY: You oughta' sit here. There is a difference.

NAKED MAN: You got something against the naked body?

JERRY: I got something against yours. How about a couple of deep knee bends, maybe a squat thrust?

NAKED MAN: Who's got time for squat thrusts?

JERRY: All right, how about skipping breakfast. I'm guessing you're not a 'half-grapefruit and black coffee' guy.

NAKED MAN: I like a good breakfast.

JERRY: I understand, I like a good breakfast. Long as you don't wind up trapped in a room with bib overalls and pigtails, being counseled by Dick Gregory.

NAKED MAN: I'm not ashamed of my body.

JERRY: That's your problem, you should be."

(Seinfeld,"The Subway")